Ron Haslam Acadamy

[chrisja2]

I will be there with 9 mates from work this wednesday morning (19th August) Heard mixed reviews on this, im doing the premier on the 600rr. Works paying half of the £230 so not much to lose. Hope it doesnt temp me towards a modern 600............

Chris.

[vr46]

It's good mate, some people say it's too slow but if you push the instructor and keep on his back wheel then he'll up the pace to suit you. If they think your confident then they sometimes let you take the lead and set the pace

If people hang back all the time then the instructor has no idea that you want more speed

I've done it and enjoyed it, although the CBR600 I was on felt slow and soft... maybe it was just my bike though... I would of had more fun on my 400

[Wadem]

I've just done this on Wednesday. If you feel like your being held up by your partner in the first session tell your instructor and they will put you on a one-to-one with someone else. Then as vr46 says, push your instructor a bit and they will up the pace as much as they can on their CBF 1000s. This is a bloody good day out and fun times to be had...also would have loved to get my 35 on the hallowed black stuff before they rip the stuff up!

[chrisja2]

Hope i dont get teamed up with my 60 year old work buddy then lol. Did you guys actually feel like you came away improved, were you asked what you wanted out of the day? Or is it just a glorified blast around Dono on a 600?

[vr46]

My instructor was on a CBR1000 Fireblade, whilst I was on the 600.

It's a structured day and you get good feedback on your riding.

From what I can remember the general structure of the day was:

-Sign on
-Get kitted out in their leathers etc or you can use your own kit
-Group briefing
-Class room briefing to advise you on circuit flags and rules of the day
-You get allocated an instructor, a bike number and a team mate
-First session is to help you adjust to the track and to give the instructor an idea of your skill level. The instructor wants you to follow his lines, turn ins, apex points...
-Pit Garage briefing - they demonstrate body position on the bike and how to move around correctly.
-Then it's back on track for 15-20 mins, pit, repeat.
-Instructor will keep asking for your feedback too, anything that helps to improve your riding.
-Last session is generally where people go for it and maybe the instructor will let you lead the group

Family & Friends can stroll around and watch from Pit Lane.

When I did the event it was my first time on a 600 and my first track experience too. I wasn't quick but learnt a bit and enjoyed it.

It is a very well controlled atmosphere, the instructor has good control and will tell you to move over if a faster group is approaching. Saying that; Leon Haslam who was out playing came by me side ways with smoke coming off his tyres!

As far as I know they won't give you another bike if you crash, so stay upright

[chrisja2]

Well it was a lovely day weather wise, couldnt have asked for better. Still trying to make up my mind if the actual event was up to much. Signed on then went into the classroom for the usual chat about safety, flags etc. The guy doing the talking was fairly funny to begin with, but as regards to the track diagram they had he just pointed to the cones and said red for braking, yellow for turning in and green for the apex.
1st session i was put with my work mate, so was a very steady one. The instructor lead, then my mate, then me. We swopped half way into the session and i started to push my instructor, but we had to wait for my mate again. First impression of the bike was that the brakes were awesome and the riding position was comfortable.
Wasnt much feedback from the instructor, i had to tell him what i thought i wasnt doing very well! Was a bit of a mess trying to find someone for me to pair up with for the 2nd session, i was put with someone who was "very fast" lol. Fair enough, i thought
2nd session was with a different instructor who lead, then my new partner then me. The pace was fast, but the bike gave lots of confidence for me to push a little more. We swopped over and i really pushed myself and the bike and the instructor lol. Unfortunately the other guy behind lost the rear end at the melbourne hairpin. But it did mean a 1 to 1 for the rest of the session
Talking with the instructor in the next break i mentioned i was apexing in a different point to the green cone, which he said they was in the wrong place! Was also little feedback again
3rd and final session was ok, but i felt my instructor was slowing the pace as he didnt want another "off" as the session was stopped twice by red flags.
After that was the debrief which was taken by the chuckle brothers who really got on everyones tits. The write up by the instructors was very brief and inaccurate.
£280 for 3 sessions on a cbr600rr with minimal input from the instructors? Was expecting more and the whole thing to be a little bit more slick. All i definately know is, im not in a hurry to buy a 600

[fontyyy]

The problem with Ron's "school" is the same problem you get if you ask a TD "instructor" for help (apart from the fact the TD guy is free, not £75 a session) and that problem is that the guy who's helping you is just speaking from his own experience. It might be of help to the way you ride, it might not.

A couple of friends of mine instruct there and they're "just" way fast ex-clubracers, you can get their advice for the price of a beer or two. They also reckon a lot of people go there just to push beyond the limit and crash as the bikes, kit etc. is all provided. So it's quite likely your very fast partner is session 2 just went into the loop and kept leaning till he ran out of lean.

[chrisja2]

Ayup Fonty, i think you are probably spot on there. Maybe the California Superbike school would be a better option to help improve my track riding?

Chris.

[fontyyy]

Maybe, whats wrong with it now?

In my limited experience there's no magic key to going fast(er?) but there are a couple of things I think you've got to do;

1; you've got to have a plan which basically means reference points, places on the track where you do things. Without them you're just riding on nerve and that's wrong for three reasons, firstly it'll vary, secondly your lines will almost certainly be appalling and thirdly, what will you do when you're going as fast as you dare and it's still 15 seconds off the pace? You can't change anything as you have no idea what you do let alone what to change.
2; you've got to have a lap timer, without it you won't know what works. What feels faster and what is faster are not always the same.
3; classes and theories are all well and good, but at some time you've just got to get off the brakes earlier, tip it in and get back on the gas as soon and as hard as you can. I.E. you've got to scare yourself.

and if I could give you one tip it would be get there the night before and walk the track, there's a LOT of camber where you don't realise.

But nothing, and I mean NOTHING will make you faster like racing will, unless you're a god on trackdays (i.e. front of the fast group on a 400) you will get whipped by the fast boys but if you can stand the whipping your pace will come on in leaps and bounds.

[CRM]

. All i definately know is, im not in a hurry to buy a 600

Amen to that, have i mentioned i dont rate my 600RR ?